Friday, February 11, 2011

Those were the words of Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday as he rejected Washington's calls to hasten political reforms in his country that is now in its 16th day of protests demanding for the end of the 30-years of Hosni Mubarak's regime, in a report by the PBS.

Rather than impose its will, the foreign minister emphasized that it would be better for the US to encourage the change that they already initiated.

"For Americans to come and say 'change is now,' but already we are changing! or, 'you start now,' we started last week. So better understand the Egyptian sensitivities and better encourage the Egyptians to move forward and to do what is required."

Gheit also said the president believes that chaos will follow if he leaves the office, or cedes his power, or passes that power to someone else.

In response, the White House said the transition plans were not sufficient to satisfy calls for reform.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "I think it is clear that what the government has thus far put forward has yet to meet a minimum threshold for the people of Egypt."

Gheit further said during the interview, "How can you ask me to disband the emergency law while I'm in difficulty? Give me time. Allow me to have control, to stabilise the nation, to stabilise the state, and then we would look into the issue."

In the mean time, while there are no official death toll records from the government, the Human Rights Watch confirmed 297 people have died since 28 January from eight hospitals in Alexandria, Cairo and Suez.